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With Valentine's Day fast approaching, Action Fraud is reminding everyone how to stay safe from fraudsters especially now that the internet an established way to meet and connect with new people. Those meeting on dating and other sites need to be on their guard against potential dating scams as scammers use the trust gained on social media to persuade victims to part with large sums, with some frauds going on for years.

Brighthouse, UK’s largest retailer for weekly payment ‘rent to own goods’ is to close 30 stores with 350 jobs at risk. The retailer revealed on its website the stores (10% of the chain) will close over the next two months and those employees affected will be transferred to other jobs within the business but it is inevitable there will be redundancies. The announcement comes as the group battle with a pre tax loss of £22million in their last set of accounts.

The number of people who became insolvent in England and Wales in 2018 was 115,219 up 16.2% on 2017, reports The Insolvency Service, with the highest number of annual insolvencies since 2011. Consumer insolvencies combine Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), Bankruptcy and Debt Relief Orders (DROs)

Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs)

There were 71,034 IVAs in 2018, (59,220 - 2017) a 19.9% increase on the year before, and the highest annual level recorded since IVAs were first introduced in 1986.

Mike was commenting with James Max on the recent analysis by the TUC on consumer spending and the rise of household debt. James asks Mike, "how do you know whether your debt is manageable or a good debt that you can afford?"